


Color Me Surprised

by DGvagabond



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Tony and Bucky hate the color brown, mentioned Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 05:36:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4209915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGvagabond/pseuds/DGvagabond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone see the world in the only shades of their soulmates eye color. Some are lucky to meet them and finally see the world in its colorful glory. Others see in only shades of gray, condemned to live without ever meeting their soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Color Me Surprised

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the "where your vision is shades of your soulmates eye color so if they have blue eyes you see shades of blue and it stays that way until you meet them" AU.

Seeing the world in shades of brown proved to be irritating as hell to the point where he had actually tried reprogramming his vision to see colors properly without the boring sepia tones adding no life to the world around him. He knew it was a lost cause, but Tony refused to let a menial thing like soulmates ruin his otherwise perfect vision. Even as a child, he hated it. The dark browns shadowing his room almost seemed to taunt him. And, why brown? Why was he unlucky enough to have a soulmate with dark eyes? His only comfort was that his soulmate was suffering along with him, whoever they were.

 

He's long since learned how to cope with it; JARVIS is a big help on the front, helping him determine what color wire was in his hand and which port to plug it in to. He had even trusted that his AI didn't paint his armors obnoxiously bright neon colors. Surely if that was the case, and if Tony ever actually found his soulmate (not that he cared), he was certainly going to switch JARVIS out with FRIDAY until he learned his lesson.

 

It was never a problem, though. He'd never accidentally cut the wrong wire because they all were slightly differing shades of brown, and he wasn't the only member on the team seeing a lone color. Steve had mentioned it once or twice, how he used to see the world in warm browns. But recently, he confessed solely to Tony that he's starting to see flecks of gray dotting his vision. Of course, Tony knew right away who Steve's soulmate was, and he remembers clearly the night Steve came to him, confided in him, almost in tears because he missed out on his one opportunity for a normal, happy ending. (They don't mention it to the team, but Tony stayed with him throughout the night discussing the absurdity of it all, how they shouldn't be restricted by something as simple as eye color, and how they should make their own happiness despite seeing everything in monochrome).

 

Thor and Clint can see fine. Thor is exempted from their collective burden, and Clint often beams whenever someone asks him how Laura is, how the kids are doing. Tony envies him sometimes, but he's happy for him all the same.

 

Bruce never discusses it. The faraway look in his eyes whenever the topic is breached tells Tony everything he wants to know.

 

Natasha is an enigma. She plays it off like her vision is normal, but then Tony will catch her staring at a rainbow after it rains with an almost wistful look in her eyes. She catches him, naturally, but they both agree that the idea is ridiculous and the conversation ends there.

 

It's gotten to the point where the rest of them aren't affected anymore. They've accepted it, dividing their time between superheroism and relaxing in the tower ready to accept its either permanent or simply hasn't come.

 

Tony still has his qualms about it, but he has better things to do than scour the Earth for the solution to the problem. He'd almost completely forgotten about it until the day Steve walks in with his long-thought dead best friend.

 

Steve brought him down to the workshop, saying something about a bionic arm when Tony first officially meets him. Tony turns away from his work, brown-tinted goggles covering his eyes.

 

"I've been itching to get a look at that," Tony says, looking away briefly to set the blowtorch and goggles aside. "You can just — "

 

Tony locks his gaze with Bucky's and the world explodes into color. Something in his chest tightens, and he struggles to sit in the chair.

 

Bucky feels it, too. Tony can see the fear in his eyes — those _beautiful_ eyes — and the next thing he knows Bucky is fleeing the shop.

 

Tony stares after him. That pressure in his chest makes him grab for the spot where the arc reactor once sat, now just scar tissue and a mere memory. It hits him then that he's afraid. Cold agonizing fear cuts into his heart, because Bucky was almost _lost_ to him. He knows the story; the man known as Captain America's best friend was presumed dead, lost to an icy grave. The prospect that Tony's apparent soulmate was almost killed makes his heart ache, and isn't that a surprise since Tony found it out when he only first met the guy.

 

"What was that about?" Steve looks every bit as confused as Tony, a worried expression on his face. "Are you alright?"

 

Tony laughs despite himself. "Alright? Cap, I'm peachy. Just wonderful." He meets Steve's gaze, eyes wild and bordering on manic. "You have really blue eyes, you know that?"

 

"You — " Steve looks to the staircase, then back to Tony. His worry is gone and in its place is a culmination of glee, shock, and utter bewilderment. "Shit."

 

"You can say that again," Tony quips. "Go after him. If he's feeling anything like I am, he'll probably run. Just . . . don't let him leave."

 

Steve nods and races out the door.

 

Little did they know that was the last thing on Bucky’s mind.

 

* * *

 

A month passes, then two, and in that time, Bucky has significantly grown. He talks more, occasionally joins in on their weekly team movie night, spars with Steve and Natasha every now and then to take his mind off things. He’s warmed up to the team, and they welcome him easily. He and Clint have their own archery competition going, and Clint has reluctantly agreed that Bucky’s just as good as him. (“But, don’t think you get the bow and arrow. That’s my trademark.”). During the day, he’s always seen somewhere around the tower. Not once does he set foot near the workshop where Tony holes himself up in his own little world. When evening rolls around and the team shuffles off to their rooms, however, Bucky takes the lift and visits Tony.

 

The first time he did it had Tony completely spooked. It was amusing, and Bucky could feel warmth blooming in his chest at the endearing little pout Tony gave him when he realized Bucky was there.

 

At first, they never discussed their . . . _bond_. It was always strictly professional: usually about the arm when Bucky made an offhand comment about how it was irritating him lately. They’d sit in awkward silence until Tony was done, and then Bucky left with a mumbled “thank you” before leaving.

 

Lately however, Bucky had been seeking out Tony’s company for more social reasons.

 

It was after movie night, everyone had gone to sleep, and Bucky made his usual route to the shop.

 

“You missed the movie,” Bucky says. Tony grunts in reply. “We watched _The Shawshank Redemption_.” He fidgets where he stands, watching Tony work and absently nod his head. “You know, I was always convinced that I’d never be able to see things properly. Even before the war, I never imagined actually being able to see anything but this ugly brown mess.”

 

Tony doesn’t look up from his work when he says, “Is that your way of saying you don’t want me?”

 

And, something in the way he speaks clenches at Bucky’s heart. The vulnerable waver in Tony’s voice pulls and pulls at him until he can’t fight the pain.

 

“That’s _exactly_ why I want you,” Bucky admits softly, letting down every single defense he built up around him. “The first day I came in here, when I could _finally_ see . . . it was overwhelming. At that point, I accepted that I would never find my soulmate. Finding you — ” Tony’s hands have long stopped moving, giving Bucky his full attention. He watches with wide eyes, shining and colored with surprise. “ — I don’t know if it’s this bond we have or what, but I don’t want to lose you. Not after I was constantly unmade and remade, always forgetting why I couldn’t see right.” Bucky steps forward, and Tony meets him, gravitating to him almost reflexively. He doesn’t even shy away when Bucky cups his cheeks with both hands. “Now that I have it, I don’t wanna lose it.”

 

Tony’s heart beats furiously in his chest. The sincerity, the warmth in Bucky’s eyes hits him hard, and he can’t recall ever feeling so _alive_.

 

“I was the same, you know,” he says, taking Bucky’s hands in his own. “I hated the color brown after ten years, and since then I was too bitter to try and fix it.” He huffs, shaking his head. “I was just grateful it wasn’t gray.” Tony can see the same uncertainty mirrored in the other’s eyes, and he squeezes Bucky’s hands gently. “Because, then I would be stuck not knowing who I was destined to be with, what the world was supposed to look like.”

 

“I don’t know about you,” Bucky says, “but, my world looks perfect, with or without color.”

 

When Bucky kisses him, Tony swears he can see the entire color spectrum behind his eyelids.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The Steve feels are strong with this one. I made myself so sad at that point okay.
> 
> I was gonna touch upon the scene where Steve confronts Bucky after he runs but then I said "to hell with it" and just didn't, so I apologize.


End file.
